The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Lately, many persons riding in vehicles are enjoying video/audio equipment, such as radio, a CD player, MP3, TV, video, etc., every day. The sound waves of video/audio equipment are output to the inside of a vehicle through a speaker installed in the vehicle's body such as a door.
The speaker reproduces sound according to electrical signals amplified by an amplifier, and can be classified into an electrodynamic type, an electromagnetic type, an electrostatic type, a magnetostrictive type, etc., according to the principle and method of converting electrical signals into sound waves. The electrodynamic type (or dynamic type) speaker having high performance is widely used as a speaker for a vehicle.
For example, the electrodynamic type speaker uses the principle of causing sound signal current to flow through a coil (a voice coil) in a magnetic field of a permanent magnet and applying a mechanical force generated according to the intensity of the current to the coil to thereby make vibrations.
The speaker for a vehicle is connected to the amplifier of audio system by a wire, and the wire is connected to the contact of the speaker through a connector. Meanwhile, when it rains or when a vehicle is washed, water may enter the insides of the doors of the vehicle through windows that move up and down. If the water entered the insides of the doors gets in the connector of the speaker, the speaker may malfunction or break down.
Doors have different designs according to vehicle models, and according to the designs of the doors, water may enter the insides of the doors through different paths. Accordingly, we have discovered that changing the locations of the connectors of speakers in consideration of paths of water entering the inside of the doors according to vehicle models may reduce or prevent water from entering into the connectors.
Also, there may be a case in which the connector interferes with the door trim of the vehicle, and in this case, it is also needed to change the location of the connector.
However, in order to change the location of the connector, the location of a mounting hole formed in the door panel should change, resulting in additional costs.
Also, if a guide pin provided to install the speaker in the door panel is positioned below the speaker, it is difficult to assemble the speaker with the door panel, which may lead to an increase of the rate of defectives.